Children’s Sugar Intake

Children’s Sugar Overload

Shocking New Research Indicates Parents Are Confused and Ill-Informed When It Comes to Their Children’s Sugar Intake

In support of National Smile Month JimJams Healthier chocolate spreads has conducted a poll of 1,000 parents with children aged between 7-15 to see how families are managing their sugar intake.

Worryingly over 90% of those interviewed didn’t know the daily government recommended sugar allowance for their children.

73% of parents are worried about their child’s sugar intake

76% of parents polled were actively trying to reduce their children’s sugar intake (especially at breakfast)

26% of parents interviewed believe their children are ADDICTED to sugar

Only 42% of those polled checked food labels for sugar content

Only 2% knew that ‘high sugar content’ is 22.5g and above per 100g on a food label

Only 20% of respondents said they didn’t find food labelling confusing

Only 1% knew the shocking amounts of sugar contained in leading brands of chocolate spread (up to the equivalent of 56 sugar cubes in a standard jar)

Parents across the country are being failed by successive government campaigns to educate them on safe sugar amounts for their children. The lack of knowledge surrounding sugar content of popular breakfast products could mean that children are consuming their whole allowance at breakfast.

JimJams’ dentist Dr Vee Shathur comments: ‘Having healthy teeth and gums isn’t just about brushing your teeth, it’s about the foods and drinks we put into our mouths too. The problem with the food industry is the saturation of products available to us these days, it’s no wonder parents are both overwhelmed with choice and confused about what’s best. Sugar is hidden everywhere, even places we don’t expect it to be, especially foods falsely marketed as ‘healthy’. This is a growing concern for dental professionals as we see younger and younger patients each day with more dental decay. The World Health Organisation advises that sugar in a child’s diet should make up less than 10% of their total energy intake, not just for their oral health but their overall health too!’
When asked how much sugar leading brands of chocolate spread contained, parents thought Nutella only contained 16 grams of sugar per 100 grams, it’s actually a whopping 56.3 grams. They also underestimated the sugar content of other leading brands of chocolate spread stating they contained 17 grams when it’s over 50 grams per 100g.

Kellie Bath, founder of JimJams and mother of two children aged 8 and 11 commented: ‘the government need to come up with a clear, simple strategy to educate parents about sugar consumption and get that information right under their noses (relying on parents to search through complicated government website pages is clearly not cutting it). High sugar brands should also be more mindful of how they portray themselves; chocolate spread is one of the worst offenders for containing a high sugar content and yet children are its biggest consumer. Our own children were the inspiration behind our products; JimJams 83% Less Sugar Chocolate Spreads are kinder on teeth because they use a naturally sourced sweetener that doesn’t promote tooth decay making them perfect for kids.

If you are concerned about your child’s teeth, then why not visit Black Swan Dental who specialise in Children’s Dentistry.